Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

Changed. The notes that named them, perhaps. Could a snatch of moonsong be a name?
    Yes - clearly, yes. Sam possessed his name, and what else would a dragon be named by but dragonsong?
    He didn't see monsters looming in the darkness. He saw a woman sitting in her driveway, deep scratches on both bare arms, rocking herself and sobbing. He saw another auto accident - two cars, their front ends smashed and permanently mated. No drivers or passengers, though he smelled blood. He heard Cody Beck's harsh breathing and smelled his fear, but the man ran steadily. Rule wondered what he saw.
    Then he saw smoke billowing from a second fire, dark enough to show against the smear of stars. It was farther away, but perhaps larger than the first fire. He didn't hear the bustle and shouts of firefighters. He did hear sirens, but they weren't close.
    Where were all the people? Aside from that lone woman, he saw no one, heard no one, smelled no one. It was night. They should be home from work, busy with dinner and family. Were they cowering in their houses, frozen by fear? Killing one another? Running in packs down other streets, maddened by visions too terrible to face?
    Then, as they passed one house, he heard screams inside. Several voices, not just one. Lily stopped. He shoved at her. Keep going. Our enemies aren't here. To stop this, we have to stop our enemies.
    Beck pulled his weapon from its holster. "I'm going in."
    She slapped his arm - the one with the gun. "Put it up. Put it up, or you're going to shoot what you think is a rapist and it turns out to be a ten-year-old. You go in, what will they see when you try to save them? A monster come to eat them? And you won't know if what you see is real, or which parts are real. How can you help if you don't know?"
    "Then, dammit, if you can tell - "
    Lily didn't answer. She just started running again. Faster.
    Rule ran beside her. So, too, did Beck - with his weapon back in its holster.
    They were nearly to the Yus' street. That was it, less than a block away now. The Yus' house would be to the left, the third house on the left. And at last he heard people. Voices talking - one was Madame Yu. She told someone, "Leave or die. Your choice." And laughter. Ugly laughter.
    Then a shot. Two shots, close together.
    He glanced up at Lily, torn. He doubted she could have heard her grandmother from this far away, but the shot - that, she'd heard. She waved him ahead. "Go. Go. I'll be right behind you. Go."
    Rule kicked into his top speed. In seconds, the other two were well behind. He rounded the corner.
    There it was, the Yus' home - a pale, pretty stucco split-level with a double-wide driveway that swallowed most of the front yard. In a flash, with the air streaming past, he took in the scene. Lights were on - inside and on the porch, plus muted solar lights lining the drive.
    And in that driveway, a crowd of young men, maybe a dozen of them. Another gang? The wind brought him their scents - sweat and cigarettes, beer, weed. And gunpowder. He couldn't see from this distance and in the dark how many had guns, but he smelled the gunpowder.
    They weren't firing, though. They were staring at the porch - where a vortex of shadow and color swirled.
    Madame Yu didn't Change the way he did. It took her a bit longer.
    Rule barreled into the nearest one from behind before the rest even saw him. He simply knocked that one flat and sprang onto the next, slashing an upraised arm with his teeth. He spun, ducking and going low, aiming for the hamstrings of one swinging a baseball bat at the spot where he'd been one or two slow seconds ago.
    A shattering roar rent the air. A streak of orange, black, and white launched into the midst of the gang members. A Siberian tiger - about ten feet, nose to tip of tail, of snarling fury - was among them.
    Now they screamed.
    Madame Yu was not a dainty fighter. She slapped out with claws that could take down a black bear. Blood flew. Within seconds, the fight was over. Rule trembled with the need to pursue as those still able to move ran off, but the man restrained the wolf.
    Madame Yu may have felt a similar frustration. She roared again.
    A wolf knows better than to approach an angry tiger, however friendly and respectful they might be toward each other in their other forms. Rule yipped to get her attention, then pointed with his nose at the house, ears pricked. Her tail lashed. She nodded, going so far as to wave one huge paw, as if urging him to go in.
    She'd left